MONITORING (SW) – The death toll from a 7.7 magnitude earthquake that hit Myanmar has climbed to 1,002, state-run MRTV said on Saturday as the international aid began to arrive in for relief works.
The rescuers continued search for survivors after a powerful earthquake devastated the Southeast Asian nation amid concerns the number killed would soar. It said 2,376 people were injured and 30 were missing.
“Infrastructure such as roads, bridges, and buildings were affected, leading to casualties and injuries among civilians. Search and rescue operations are currently being carried out in the affected areas,” the junta said in a statement issued on state media.
The junta leader, General Min Aung Hlaing, had warned on Friday of more deaths and injuries as he invited “any country” to provide help and donations.
A Chinese rescue team arrived on Saturday while Russia and the US offered aid in the disaster, which struck at lunchtime on Friday and damaged hundreds of buildings in neighbouring Thailand.
The United States Geological Service’s predictive modelling estimated the death toll could exceed 10,000 people in Myanmar, and that losses could be greater than the value of the country’s gross domestic product.Susan Hough, a scientist in the USGS’s Earthquake Hazards Program, told Reuters it was difficult to predict an earthquake’s death toll, for various reasons including timing.When an earthquake strikes during the daytime, as it did in Myanmar, “people are awake, they have their wits about them, they are better able to respond,” she said.
Much of the devastation was in Myanmar’s second-largest city, Mandalay, close to the epicentre of the quake.
In the Thai capital Bangkok, 1,000 km (620 miles) from the epicentre a rescue mission was stepped up on Saturday to find construction workers trapped under the rubble of a collapsed 33-storey tower.
A 37-strong team from China landed in Yangon, Myanmar’s former capital, early on Saturday, carrying medicine and equipment to detect signs of life with them, the Chinese embassy said in a Facebook post.
Russia said it was sending 120 experienced rescuers as well as doctors and search dogs, state news agency TASS reported.
